Hi,
Can somebody please tell me which book(s) and or video(s) I need to buy to be able to create an indoor and outdoor season(i.e. a complete season) training program to increase speed, power, strength?
I need the details: reps, sets, rest, volume, intensity, peaking, types of plyos/weight exercises/ types of med ball throws etc.etc. … ALL the details.
Thank you
Gpp dvd - comes with a sample 8 week gpp workouts
Van dvd - comes with a sample 12 week spp workouts
cfts - good general information on building a speed program
Hi Isaiah53
Thank you for your note and question.
In order of priority I recommend a few things.
First I suggest you read Speed Trap if you have not already. Charlie’s story, told my Charlie and it’s loaded with a lot of training info and it will give you perspective on track and field based on Ben Johnson getting his gold medal taken away due to a PED scandal.
Look at the comments on Amazon and my replies too. Understand that Speed Trap is not just about 1988. Not even close. It explains why Charlie loved speed and why he sold his Aston Martin Sports car to finance his dream. It took me 10 years to read the book. Crazy hey? When I finally read it was difficult as I was around from Feb of 1988 to Sept of 1988 and then things became like the biggest hurdle race of my life. ( Thank gosh I am still running that race albeit solo without my key front man Charlie and James’s dad).
Then read and study and refer to the “The Charlie Francis Training System”. Ironic that Charlie was not going to participate in that book. He was too busy until September of 1988.Then he decided to write the book with the Coaching Association of Canada because he was banned for life ( to this day he has not been reinstated back into coaching) as a coach and fired from his job. This book is the best selling book and product of every product on the site.
Both books read and studied and kept as references will give you some ideas and history and information you will need to move ahead.
Planning a program is not an easy thing but it’s not terribly either once you have the ideas of how Charlie worked and work backwards from there. You don’t need to know all things today or tomorrow. You do need and want to follow some of the tried and true methods like performing high intensity not more than 2 or 3 days a week.
continued…
Lots of people debate on sites and in articles about the low and tempo and it’s good or it’s not or don’t do it.
I am not here to say do this or that. Not my job.
My job is to pass on information on what I did and what i learned or think I know and what Charlie did for himself and for those he coached.
Notice I don’t advertise.
Notice I am not selling stuff you don’t need which will end up in a landfill or your garbage or broken.
Knowledge will allow you to gain the perspective you need to forge ahead.
The best video or easiest video to grab a lot of information from and to hear the reinforcement of the content you read in any of the books sold on my site would be ( GPP) General Preparation Phase for all sports. Charlie and I worked hard on putting this together. I am in it doing sit ups and med ball throws and hurdle walk overs. Lindsay is also in it. Charlie coached her and she lived and trained with us for 6 years and she helped me and Charlie with our son as she was a nanny we had met at a training camp.( She is still my friend and just got married 3 years ago and she does not live very far from me and my son)
More stuff…
Next for you I would buy each and every one of the Key Concept books. They are each loaded with content and again go about giving you information you want and need to make the most of your training and planning. I made these books from a very popular book called “Key Concepts Elite Edition”. I did a bunch of edits and named each book based on the topic Charlie discussed.
All the books I have mentioned are for sale as well on Amazon. I wanted to do this to have a more global awareness of what Charlie accomplished.
I apologize for not helping you quicker. I’ve spent my last year doing major work on the home Charlie and I raised our son in and recently had a family emergency which has now been managed well.
If you wish to reach out to me I can be found on Facebook via Cf.com or from info or find me on messenger. I would be happy to give you more perspective and perhaps better value as well as it’s been a while since I’ve held a major sale.
Training is a fabulous way to spend time. And if and when it’s done well it’s an investment.
I’d be happy to answer some of your questions.
Charlie’s works are unmatched in my opinion: the best materials available.
Only if the old downloads would work…
Old downloads that are more than 10 years old may not work if you did not maintain your storage.
CharlieFrancis.com has a 100% guarantee on all of it’s content. If you are not satisfied let me know and I will return your money in full.
If you are a long time member RB34 or having an issue with a product let me know and I will be more than happy to resend you file.
From your posts, it might not hurt you to brush up on some of the material. ;). Damn, I wish my emojis worked on this website. Who is the owner anyway? LOL.
Thank you Pioneer for the compliment.
You have been a long time member since January 2003.
You have not only been a significant contributor to www.charliefrancis.com, you have met and worked along side Charlie. Charlie spoke well and highly of you.
We have been online since 2000 and not once advertised. This has kept this information as it has been intended according to how Charlie wanted it. He wanted to share what he did and share how he did it.
The gpp download is all pixelated can’t really see anything. What post?
I would also like to say that Charlie’s materials are unmatched. I’ve bought most of the videos and reading materials and searched this site a ton since joining (10 years now?!). What did Charlie’s program do for me?
When I graduated HS, I was a a 22.65 (FAT) and 50.6 (hand-timed) guy.
I came back to track at 25 and trained with a club that did the old school stuff. After those two years, my PRs were 7.28 / 22.99 / 51.58 indoors and 11.39 /22.47 / 50.22 outdoors.
At age 27, I began training myself in accordance with Charlie’s guiding principles. By 30 years old, my PRs were 7.06 / 22.42 / 50.15 indoors and 10.81 / 21.69 / 49.79 outdoors.
Those times are far from spectacular compared to some of the folks on this board, but I truly believe that fully committing to Charlie’s approach allowed me to realize my individual potential.
And how are you running this year?
Those times were 5 years ago at age 30. I had my first kid at 31 and had a serious hamstring tendon injury in that year, which really put me out of competing for a couple years. Second kid was born last year, so “the balance” right now includes a little less training than I’d like.
After a few meets this indoor season (age 35), my times are sitting at 7.28 and 23.47.
Thanks Ange! I actually even go back to the original version of the site which I think started in 2001? While all of us have probably have numerous resources we have relied upon Charlie’s philosphies regarding sprint training, recovery/restoration, weighing risks vs. rewards and basically consideration of so many factors in performance that I never realized needed consideration have had the major influence on me. I end up mentioning CF almost every day to another coach or athlete.
Thanks Ange! I actually even go back to the original version of the site which I think started in 2001? While all of us have probably have numerous resources we have relied upon Charlie’s philosphies regarding sprint training, recovery/restoration, weighing risks vs. rewards and basically consideration of so many factors in performance that I never realized needed consideration have had the major influence on me. I end up mentioning CF almost every day to another coach or athlete.
Agree with Pioneer and Ange, get all the stuff you can afford from Charlie’s stuff and then spend as much as time as you can going through previous conversations on this site. there are some truly amazing archived chats that even to this day I go back to and read in full (lactate threshold training!!! how many pages of discussion and not one wasted)
I too was a member of the original forum before the switch and have the 2202 forum review printed on my desk at home along with the CFTS and of course many other books and papers.
This forum I hope never closes!!!
The old stuff doesn’t work - Ange sent me all the content several years ago and it still doesn’t work.
No product of any age will run on any computer.
It depends on the age of the product, whether it has been updated to stay in synch with the latest software, and whether there is a refresh process to upgrade the older versions distributed years ago.
The curse of the modern internet is the mushrooming of operating systems, browsers and subsidiary tools.
Laptop/desktops running everything from Windows 8-10. Tablets and phones with various levels of android.
Some CF products are compressed using winzip - another tool with multiple generations.
The actual video product ( I am looking at the GPP) is a wmv file - again the feasibility of playing this on the target computer/table/phone depends on the version of wmv originally used by CF and which software version your computer uses to read the video.
This may sound slightly technical to some people, and stating the obvious to others, but the bottom line is no product runs on any device - it all depends on the various combinations as per above.
Angie mentioned the need to “maintain your storage”, I guess it depends what that means.
Does the gpp dvd work for you? I think she was talking about the online storage when you download the product from the site.